husky65

For info, the DirectX version seems markedly slower when the 'pop up windows' (such as the reinforcement menu, research menu and unit purchase menu are selected) - there is a definite pause before they display now. I am running XP pro, with SC run as win 98/ME in compatability mode. I will try running it without compatability mode to see if it helps.

Invade England, if you do well Spain will join you, giving you a land path (and a few units) to attack Gib. If you defeat England you get Gib anyway.

When people post rubbish, I'll call it that - grown ups can survive this. For example the part of the post that I called rubbish, suggested that the Germans were capable of concentrating a massive force against the Overlord invasion beaches and that the force had been spread because of deception, both aspects of it were rubbish - the German force was spread to cover all possibilities as is standard, deception just delayed the redeployment of the other forces. Equally the Germans were incapable of concentrating a force against the initial allied force of 5 inf divs, 3 armoured brigades (each having the same tank strength as an armoured div) and 3 airborne divs. German forces were only 6 Inf Divs and 1 x Pz Div (all heavily understrength) within immediate range of the D-Day beaches and were subject to massive NGS plus heavy air attack. A further 6 inf Divs and 3 Pz Divs (all understrength) were within 100 miles, but had to cope with massive air attacks, destroyed bridges, partisan attack and the standard german logistic problems of the time. Moving anything by day was acknowledged as a way to lose it to Jabos. To quote Rommel in a report to Hitler in 1943 re defending the French coastline - 'British and American superiority in the air alone has again been so effective that all movement of major formations has been rendered completely impossible, both at the front and behind it, by day and by night' Suggesting that the forces could have made a difference if 'handled better' simply flys in the face of facts. [ July 28, 2002, 07:55 PM: Message edited by: husky65 ]

Yes, the US enters routinely if the UK is invaded, usually their troops are unable to get ashore before you can finish off the brits and they turn back.

The fact that Eisenhower prepared for a failure of D-Day does not make it likely, just shows that (as noted above), he lacked all the facts that we now have, and that he was a conscientious leader who planned for the worst case as well as the likely case.

Agreed, that is why they did so much contingency planning and why they went with such overwhelming force. 6 Jun Luftflotte 3 put up a total of 319 sorties, the allies 10,585 sorties - a ratio of 33:1

I wish it were the case, breaking the codes was useful but once again the allies (US mostly) swamped the Japanese - Guadalcanal was a stunning lack of finesse, when urged to assault Guadalcanal on Aug 1, Ghormley (with MacArthurs support) delayed, turning it into a protracted campaign. When the Japanese were largely defeated and the survivors pushed into a corner of the island, inadequate patrolling on land sea and air allowed over 13,000 Japanese troops to be evacuated without a single ship being attacked. Midway was a combination of reading the enemys op plan, having an enemy that went for an over complicated plan and some luck. Burma, In the final march on Rangoon the allies had aprox 260,000 men V 20,000 Japs and 4,600 combat a/c V 66 The allies in the Pacific were lower on the supply priority list than Europe, but the production superiority was such that in 1943 the US built 65 x CV, CVL or CVEs, in 1944 they built 45 x CV, CVL or CVEs - in the entire war the Japs built 17 x CV, CVL or CVEs. Total a/c production - 1939 to 45 USA = 324,750 - Japan = 76,320. Once again the allies used their massive production advantage and swamped the axis.

I'm tempted to have the Germans go for GB, then attack USSR from the East and the Italians take the Med and try a southern attack on the USSR. Lots of other possibilities.

Exactly, when finesse fails it can fail VERY badly, suppose in WW2 Europe the 'single drive for Berlin' strategy (rather than the 'broad front' strategy) had been used, certainly precise application of force and an example of finesse - but if the enemy managed to cut off the salient - then we would have lost entire armies. Quite a few individual attacks on the broad front were stopped or only partly successful - but none of those defeats/delays threatened the eventual victory of the allies.

Its good to see an attempt to put the boot in before running away disguised as an apology. Read John Ellis 'Brute Force', then you will understand - the allies didn't use finesse, in most cases this was a good idea, as sheer overwhelming force may not be as fast as finesse, but it also will not fail as badly if it goes wrong. BTW, since you haven't given ANY examples to support your contention that the US army (a force renowned for its lack of finesse and massive application of firepower) used finesse rather than production to solve its problems, so your self righteous posturing is a little unconvincing to say the least.

Already been mentioned, as has the inability at this scale of simulating supply efforts, the lack of an opportunity for the defender to attack such supply efforts (because of the scale), the limited number of troops who will volunteer for such ops (the allied airborne army involved in Market Garden was only about 35,000 troops, and still the allies lacked enough Tpt a/c to move them in one lift), Paras don't sieze areas - they sieze critical objectives (that are not in the game because of the scale) and no one has given any examples of where they have worked on this scale. Paras have been ruled out by Hubert with good reason.

Yes, you're right - I'm no longer as erudite as I was...

Use them like a distraction? you do know that Paras are volunteers don't you? IRL you tell an airborne Bn, 'men we are dropping you 300 miles behind enemy lines, do what damage you can until you are wiped out' and just watch the Maroon Berets pile up as they unvolunteer at you. Reachable in 'a turn or two' is a week to two months depending on season, hardly an amount of time you can expect Paras to hold.